Such containers are filled by pouring solid particles from hoppers or funnels that serve to pour the particles into a container via flexible sleeves or rigid pipes.
In general, it is desired to fill a container with as much solid substance as possible and to have the solid particles distributed as uniformly as possible in terms of grain size so as to approach as closely as possible to the theoretically-determined filling optimum.
In particular with chemical reactors, it is advantageous to have as large as possible a weight of catalyst in the reactor in order to be able to space out stoppages of the equipment associated with replacing the catalyst. It is also important to have a uniform distribution of grain sizes throughout the reactor in order to avoid preferred paths appearing for the reagents that are to pass through the catalyst bed, since otherwise only a fraction of the catalyst will be used. That would make it necessary to replace the catalyst even though some of it has not been used, since if the catalyst is not replaced the desired chemical reaction can no longer take place, and it should not be forgotten that the catalyst is relatively expensive.
The same applies to silos for storing grains in which it is necessary to be able to store as large as possible a quantity of grains, while avoiding phenomena of segregation by grain size, since that can lead to zones of greater density that can no longer be reached by preservatives.
It is also desired to reduce as much as possible any abrasion and impacts between solid particles or against the filler device so as to avoid as much as possible any production of fine dust that impedes proper operation of the equipment and interferes with the solid particles being distributed uniformly in terms of grain size inside the container.
Document FR 2 862 625 discloses a device for filling a container with solid particles, which device is provided under its hopper with downwardly-flaring concentric tubes, and also with straight concentric tubes that are capable of moving vertically relative to one another and that enable the solid particles to be distributed better within the container.
A problem lies in the fact that, depending on particle size, certain concentric tubes can become clogged during filling, because they are not sufficiently open, such that the filling that is obtained is not optimum and it is difficult to obtain control over filling parameters.